Trending

Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga hands on review

Fancy a 13in Windows 8 tablet with a keyboard flipped round the back? Aha, the name makes sense now

10 January 2012/12:30GMT

OK, so we might not have got the yoga reference at first – it's been a long day – but we took a shine to Lenovo's Ultrabook-come-tablet, the IdeaPad Yoga, straightaway.

Having long been fans of bendy, twisty and otherwise transforming hybrid gadgets, the IdeaPad Yoga seems to have solved the pesky keyboard problem once and for all.

And it's not just a gimmick, this is one gadget you'll want to bend into different guises. The 360 degree hinge on the IdeaPad Yoga can turn it from a regular laptop to a flat tablet or a handy viewing stand – without a badly designed peripheral in sight.

From what we saw, you get the best of both worlds. On the one hand it's a 13.3in touchscreen Windows 8 tablet – and we won't see many of those knocking around any time soon – but Lenovo has also gone and stuck a bright, 1600 x 900 IPS display in there. Rather than being a bit of a pain, then, its size makes it perfect for watching vids.

The Yoga's sturdy 0.67" thick build and reasonable weight of 'less than 1.5kg' (according to Lenovo) felt just fine to us for a laptop – although if you're using the IdeaPad Yoga with the keyboard flat underneath the screen, you might want to find a nearby table or pair of legs to rest it on.

As a stand set-up, you can flip it upside down into a V shape or lay the keyboard flat and tilt the screen to how you want it – and if Intel's right about touchscreen Ultrabooks, this is what we reckon they'll look like.

Details like the faux leather finish – almost as nice as Moleskine notebooks – and the eight hour battery life are the icing on the Yoga's very flexible cake. Plus there are already rumours of Ivy Bridge Intel Core processors showing up inside and a tantalising release date of "as soon as Windows 8 launches".

Annoyingly, that probably means the end of 2012 – but in the meantime, try not to practise yoga on your current laptop.